82nd Biennial International Law Conference
Vienna, Austria · 17–21 August 2026
Contours of International Law: Encounters and Evolutions
Beyond Monuments and Objects: Intangible Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflict – Reflections from the ILA Vienna Conference – Day 3
At the 82nd Biennial Conference of the International Law Association (ILA) in Vienna, I attended the open working session of the ILA Committee on Safeguarding Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflict, whose ongoing work addresses one of the increasingly important challenges confronting contemporary international law: how cultural heritage can be safeguarded before, during, and after armed conflict.
A longer and more detailed version of this post is available at: https://paolofarah.wordpress.com/2026/08/20/beyond-monuments-and-objects-intangible-cultural-heritage-in-armed-conflict-reflections-from-the-ila-vienna-conference/
The Committee’s Interim Report and the colleagues’ presentations were exceptionally rich, thoughtful, and insightful, offering an excellent foundation for the discussion and for the Committee’s continuing work.
The discussion offered an important opportunity to reflect on the Committee’s Interim Report and on the evolution of the international legal framework governing cultural heritage in situations of conflict.
During the session, I intervened to highlight in particular the importance of intangible cultural heritage.
Beyond the Protection of Objects and Sites
The traditional international legal architecture concerning cultural heritage during armed conflict has understandably devoted considerable attention to tangible cultural property: monuments, archaeological sites, museums, archives, works of art, religious buildings, and other physical manifestations of cultural heritage.
Armed conflict can inflict forms of cultural destruction that cannot be measured solely by counting damaged buildings or displaced objects.
Communities also carry heritage through languages, traditions, rituals, oral histories, craftsmanship, artistic practices, knowledge systems, relationships with land and nature, and intergenerational forms of cultural transmission. Conflict, occupation, forced displacement, demographic transformation, and the destruction of communities can interrupt these practices even when no particular monument or cultural object has been physically destroyed.
Protecting cultural heritage therefore requires attention not only to the material objects that embody culture, but also to the people, communities, practices, and knowledge that give those objects meaning.
This is one reason why the concept of safeguarding is particularly important. Cultural heritage is not necessarily static. Living heritage evolves as communities themselves evolve, including in response to migration, displacement, conflict, technological transformation, and environmental change.
Cultural Heritage as a Global Challenge
This discussion also connects directly with the work of the newly established ILA Study Group on International Law, Global Challenges, and the Impact of Emerging Powers on Global Governance, which I have the privilege of chairing.
Among the areas that the Study Group intends to explore through its work streams/work packages are questions concerning intangible cultural heritage, Indigenous peoples, Indigenous knowledge, and the ways in which global transformations affect the creation, preservation, transmission, and governance of knowledge and culture.
These issues increasingly intersect with other global challenges: climate change and environmental degradation; technological transformation and artificial intelligence; economic development; intellectual property; migration and displacement; geopolitical competition; and changing conceptions of sovereignty and global governance.
For that reason, during the session I suggested that we explore synergies and channels of communication between the work of the Committee and the new Study Group in the areas where their respective mandates intersect.
Connecting the Work of ILA Committees and Study Groups
One of the distinctive strengths of the International Law Association is precisely the breadth of expertise represented across its Committees and Study Groups.
The challenges now confronting international law rarely fit neatly within a single legal field. Cultural heritage intersects with humanitarian law, human rights, Indigenous peoples’ rights, environmental law, international criminal law, intellectual property, development, technology, and questions concerning the structure and legitimacy of global governance.
Creating connections among these different strands of work can therefore generate insights that would be difficult to develop within disciplinary silos.
My intervention at the Cultural Heritage session was consequently not only about identifying the importance of intangible cultural heritage. It was also an invitation to think about how different parts of the ILA can communicate, cooperate, and build upon one another’s work.
As the new Study Group begins developing its substantive programme, I look forward to continuing these conversations with the Cultural Heritage Committee and with other ILA Committees and Study Groups whose work intersects with the global challenges we intend to examine.
The ILA Vienna Conference—with its broader theme, “Contours of International Law: Encounters and Evolutions”—provides an especially appropriate setting for beginning precisely these kinds of encounters.
82nd Biennial International Law Conference
Vienna, Austria · 17–21 August 2026
Contours of International Law: Encounters and Evolutions
A longer and more detailed version of this post is available at: https://paolofarah.wordpress.com/2026/08/20/beyond-monuments-and-objects-intangible-cultural-heritage-in-armed-conflict-reflections-from-the-ila-vienna-conference/
Related Research, Presentations and Events/Symposia/Conferences:
1) When John Locke Meets Lao Tzu: The Relationship between Intellectual Property, Biodiversity and Indigenous Knowledge and the Implications for Food Security, 33 Duke Envtl. L. & Pol’y F. 297 (2024), available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4832284
2) Conflict between Intellectual Property Rights and Human Rights: A Case Study on Intangible Cultural Heritage, 94 Or. L. Rev. 125 (2015), available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2705698
3) Desirability of Commodification of Intangible Cultural Heritage: The Unsatisfying Role of IPRs, 11 Transnat’l Dispute Mgmt. 2, 2014, available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2472339
4) Organizer, Moderator (Chair), and Discussant, Indigenous Legal Orders, Legal Pluralism, and the Coloniality of Method Across Comparative Law, International Law, Intellectual Property, and Trade Governance, Webinar organized on behalf of the American Branch of the International Law Association, June 1, 2026. Flyer ABILA Webinar June 1, 2026 – Webinar Available on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLeZZabxDxI
5) Organizer and Chair for the Tribal Energy, Environmental Justice, and Climate Change Symposium, March 25, 2026, University of Tulsa College of Law, Tulsa, Oklahoma – Flyer – Symposium Tribal Energy Law, Environmental Justice – March 25, 2026
Paolo Farah, Paolo Davide Farah